April 4, 2005—Chemical engineers at Purdue University have made a discovery that may help to improve a promising low-polluting energy technology that combusts natural gas more cleanly than conventional methods, researchers say.
The finding revolves around the fact that catalysts and other materials vital to industry have complex crystalline structures with numerous sides, or facets, researchers say. Different facets sometimes provide higher performance than others, so industry tries to prepare catalytic materials that contain a large number of higher-performing facets.
The Purdue researchers have determined, however, that the precious metal palladium, the catalyst used in the clean energy technology—called catalytic combustion—performs the same no matter which facet is exposed.
The research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and the lab is associated with the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue’s Discovery Park, the university’s hub for interdisciplinary research. The research is ongoing and is supported by Purdue’s recently formed Center for Catalyst Design. For more information, visit the Purdue Web site.
